1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to golf practice devices to assist a golfer in disciplining himself to hold his head down while performing tee shots. The practice device provides a resilient tubular golf tee member mounted in and protruding upward from a resilient flat tee support structure base. The base includes a light means visible through the interior of the tubular golf tee and means for randomly selecting a color of the light. The base is placed by the golfer in a desired location, the golfer then places a golf ball on the tubular tee thereby covering the tee and the light. The golfer then selects a color randomly and is then ready to tee off. The golfer swings his golf club striking the ball and observing the light color as the ball leaves the tee after the club passes over the tee if his head, shoulders and eyes were properly oriented during the swing.
DISCUSSION OF PRIOR ART
An often heard criticism given a golfer after he has hit a ball off the tee and fails somehow to achieve the results he desired is "you didn't keep your head down". Golf instructors continually try to drive this concept home when they are teaching students how to tee off. Often the golfer himself truly believes he has kept his head down and his eye on the ball which was on the tee as he proceeds through the swing and strikes the ball with the club. A number of practice devices have been proposed to assist in training a golfer to hit the ball off the tee correctly. One such device entitled "A Programmed Swing Training Device" by R. Abel, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,571 proposes a complicated mechanical means capable of regulating programmed body movements. Another device described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,633 by Samuel C. Schecter embodies the attachment of a golf ball means to the free end of a swingable arm which is mounted on a support means structure in a teed position. In the Schecter invention the golfer stands as he would on a golf course and practices striking the ball with his clubs. No provision is made whereby the golfer can actually observe whether or not his head and eyes were oriented properly, in a position where he is looking at the golf ball, at the instant the club strikes the ball on the tee.
The invention herein is a new and novel golf training device wherein the golfer in practicing his tee shots is able to know whether or not his head and eyes were properly oriented at the instant that the golf ball leaves the tee upon being struck by his swung club. The tee is a resilient tubular member mounted in a support structure base, said support structure base having a light means included therein which emits light through a light transparent internal portion of the tee and is visible to the golfer when he or she properly addresses the tee without a ball placed thereon. The base has mounted therein a color selecting light means for randomly selecting a color of light visible to the golfer. In use the golfer will place a golf ball atop the tubular tee thus covering the light. The golfer then randomly selects a light color by setting a color selector means and then swings the golf club striking the ball. At the instant the club passes over the tee, setting the ball in flight, he or she will observe the light if his or her head and eyes were positioned correctly with respect to the golf ball while the golf club was swung. The golfer's mind will register the color observed and, after the golf club swing is completed, the golfer can look back and re-observe the color shining through the tee to ascertain whether or not he or she observed the correct color and did in fact have his or her eyes on the golf ball as the club struck the ball and passed over the tee.